Air supply for incinerator

ABSTRACT

A gateless incinerator having an inlet for air required for combustion of organic matter therein that includes a plurality of vertically spaced ports. The ports are positioned at the lower portion of the incinerator in vertically spaced relation to have an air supply port that lies constantly adjacent the underside of the charge of organic matter placed therein. When an accumulation of ash from the burning organic matter covers an inlet port, air flowing therethrough is curtailed whereby conditions that promote oxidation of the carbon in the ash and vaporization of other residual material therein are terminated. Inasmuch as combustion is terminated in the ash it is permitted to cool thereby eliminating the volatilization of inorganic elements in the ash and the production of haze forming gases.

United States Patent Dahar AIR SUPPLY FOR INCINERATOR PrimaryExaminer-Kenneth W. Sprague Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Wayne H. Lang [75]Inventor: Alex J. Dahar, Wellsville, NY.

[73] Assignee: The Air Preheater Company, Inc.,

Wellsville, NY. [57] ABSTRACT [22] Filed: 1974 A gateless incineratorhaving an inlet for air required [21] APPL 528,530 for combustion oforganic matter therein that includes V a plurality of vertically spacedports. The ports are p0- sitioned at the lower portion of theincinerator in ver- US. Cl. R; A; B; ti ll Spaced l ti t h an i Supply tth t 110/ 75 R lies constantly adjacent the underside of the charge of[51] Int. Cl. F23G 5/00; F23L 3/00 Organic matter placed therein w anaccumulation [581 held of Search 110/8 R, 8 8 18 of ash from the burningorganic matter covers an inlet 110/18 C, 72 72 75 R port, air flowingtherethrough is curtailed whereby conditions that promote oxidation ofthe carbon in the [56] References C'ted ash and vaporization of otherresidual material therein UNITED STATES PATENTS are terminated. Inasmuchas combustion is terminated 2,483,946 10/1949 Touton 110/75 in the ashit is Permitted to 0001 thereby eliminating 3,599,609 8/1971 Sams et a1110/8 the l iz n of in ganic el men in the h and 3,664,277 5/1972Chatterjee et a1. the production of haze forming gases. 3,678,870 7/1972Bakker 110/8 6 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures 1 {2 I i 24 l A 36 W {8/ FUELI6 32% I o o n a o o o a c 0 o S'2C 1' L c v o o e o a a v 0 32A U.S.Patent Oct. 21, 1975 Sheet2 0f2 3,913,501

AIR SUPPLY FOR INCINERATOR BACKGROUND oF THE INVENTION 1. FIELD OF THEINVENTION An incinerator for trash and other waste material thatincludes organic and inorganic matter having an air supply arrangementthat controls combustion to preclude the temperature of ash from theburning trash from rising to the point where it volatizes the inorganicconstituents thereof and produces haze forming gases.

2. DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART Incinerator devices that reduce wastematerial to ash are well known and shown generally by the U.S. Pat. ofBakker, No. 3,491,707. Such devices regularly have one feature incommon, that being that they are operated at high temperatures to obtainmaximum gasification of solids therein. While operating at hightemperature, most of the organic matter and some of the inorganic matterin the charge of waste material therein is reduced to gaseous form, withthe organic matter being burned in an afterburner and the volatizedinorganic material being exhausted to the atmosphere to become the basisof a haze forming gas. Some inorganic material, such as glass, is onlymelted, and on fusing with 1 other residue in the ash forms a clinkerwhich is removed from the incinerator with difficulty.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention, therefore, relates to anincinerator for trash, garbage, and other waste material having bothorganic and inorganic values wherein the organic matter thereof iseffectively driven off as a combustible gas while the inorganic matteris prohibited from being excessively heated and vaporized. Therefore,the inorganic matter remains relatively cool and is not permitted to bevaporized so it may be exhausted to become the basis of a haze formingatmosphere.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING A better understanding of my inventionmay be had by reference to the drawing in which:

FIG. 1 shows a sectional elevation of my invention,

FIG. 2 shows a side view of my invention in section 1, and

FIG. 3 shows a sectional elevation of the device having a system ofautomatic controls.

SPECIFICATIONS In the drawing of the present invention, the referencenumeral 12 defines a housing that encloses a pyrolyzing chamber 14. Thechamber 14 has a loading door 16 for loading a charge of waste materialtherein and an outlet opening 18 through which gases generated inchamber 14 are directed to an afterburner 20.

A duct 22 connected to the opening 18 directs the gas to afterburner 20and to the stack 24 which in turn directs the exhaust gases to theatmosphere.

A source of air'for combustion is directed from fan 26 via duct 28 to amanifold 30 which supplies the air through vertically spaced aperturedducts 32 to the lower portion of chamber 14. Each duct 32 is similarlysized and provided with a control valve 34 whereby air flow through aparticular duct 32 may be terminated when it is determined that it liesbeneath the current level of the residual ash that remains afterreduction of the waste material in the pyrolyzing chamber. A branch duct38 having a control valve 37 supplies air as required to the afterburner20.

In operation a charge of waste material is inserted through the loadingdoor 16 into combustion chamber 14. All valves 34 are normally closed;however, valve 34A is moved to an open position to admit air forpyrolysis from the source 26 through air supply duct 32A at the bottomof chamber 14, while ducts 32B, 32C, and 32D remain closed to the flowof combustion air. Inasmuch as the combustion chamber 14 is free of ashat the beginning of a burn, air from apertured duct 32A combines withthe burning waste and thence passes as the gas of pyrolysis to theexhaust opening 18 and the afterburner 20. In afterburner 20 pyrolyzedgas from chamber 14, together with auxiliary fuel from a source ofsupply 36 and combustion air from supply line 38 controlled by valve 40,provide complete combustion before being exhausted through stack 24 tothe atmosphere as completely burned exhaust gas.

As ash from the burning waste material settles to the bottom of chamber14 and collects around and over elongate duct 32A, valve 34A is closedand valve 348 opened so that combustion air is permitted to be directedthrough valve 34B and duct 328 to the burning waste material and thenceexhausted to the afterburner and the atmosphere.

Combustion air, consequently, is no longer being forced to flow throughthe ash and other residual matter in the combustion chamber to increaseits temperature and oxidize elements thereof.

Control valves 34 may be actuated manually by handwheels 38 inaccordance with the depth of ash at the bottom of chamber 14 as seen byan operator when viewed through the open loading door 16. Otherwise,automatic control means 42 may be adapted to open and close the valves34 in response to various conditions within the combustion chamber 14brought about by the collection of residual matter at the bottom thereofin the manner shown by FIG. 3. Here, a control means 46 is responsive tothermocouples 48 in the chamber 14. As one of air supply ducts 32becomes covered with ash, combustion air being forced out therefromflows through the ash and burns out the residual carbon thereof toproduce a blast-furnace ef fect that raises the temperatureconsiderably. As the temperature rises, the controller 46 is programmedto close the appropriate air supply valve 34 so that combustion at allresidual carbon in the ash ceases. However, the supply of air to theduct 32 lying above the ash will continue so that pyrolyzation of wastein the space lying above the ash also will continue until it too iscovered with ash.

Thus, combustion of residual carbon remaining in the ash is terminatedand the ash cools while the air for pyrolyzation of the waste materialin chamber 14 is supplied continuously along the bottom of charge wheremaximum burning effectiveness may be performed.

As the charge of waste material in chamber 14 continues to burn and bereduced to ash, it continuously falls to the bottom of chamber 14 andprogressively covers duct 32B. When duct 32B becomes covered with ash,valve 348 is closed and 34C opened, and the pyrolyzation of the waste inchamber 14 is continued. If ash collects at the bottom of chamber 14 inan amount that would cover duct 32C, said duct would be closed off byturning valve 34C and opening valve 34D to continue the supply air forcombustion above the level of the residual ash.

By this arrangement an adequate supply of air is continuously providedat the bottom of the charge of burning waste, but it is never forcedthrough the ash. Thus, the air supply is cut-off and combustion ofresidual carbon within the ash is eliminated completely while air forpyrolyzation of the waste above the ash is continuously supplied in anamount that permits effective pyrolyzation of the waste material toproceed at a constant rate.

Inasmuch as combustion in the ash ceases, the ash naturally assumes arelatively cool temperature that is considerably below the temperatureat which the inorganic constituents thereof are vaporized. Therefore, anincinerator, according to this invention, may be used in locationsheretofore denied because of the haze forming potential of the gasesbeing exhausted therefrom.

The invention described herein and illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings is known to admit to various modifications. Thus, other controlmeans could readily be adapted to modulate the valves controlling theflow of combustion air to the combustion chamber in response to avariable condition in the combustion chamber effected by the collectionof residual matter therein. Other modifications could be made by personsskilled in the art, and all such modifications are considered to liewithin the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An incinerator for the incineration of organic matter in a charge ofwaste material that contains organic and inorganic values comprising incombination a combustion chamber including a loading opening for theadmission of waste material therein and an outlet opening for theexhaust of pyrolyzed gas therefrom, means for the collection of ash atthe bottom of the combustion chamber, a source of air for combustion,means supplying combustion air from said source to the combustionchamber including a plurality of vertically spaced passageways at thelower portion of the combustion chamber, and means controlling air flowthrough each of said passageways whereby the flow of air may becurtailed through the passageways that lie subjacent the level of ashesat the bottom of the combustion chamber to thereby terminate combustionof residual matter in the ash and the volatilization of inorganic matterthat produces a haze forming gas.

2. An incinerator for the incineration of waste material as defined inclaim 1 wherein the vertically spaced inlet passageways are of equalsize to permit a constant rate of air flow therethrough.

3. An incinerator for the incineration of waste material as defined inclaim 1 wherein the vertically spaced inlet passageways extendhorizontally between ends of the incinerator.

4. An incinerator for the incineration of waste material as defined inclaim 1 wherein the vertically spaced inlet passageways are formed witha series of horizontally spaced openings that exhaust into thecombustion chamber.

5. An incinerator for the incineration of organic matter in a charge ofwaste material that contains organic and inorganic values comprising incombination a combustion chamber having a loading opening for theadmission of waste material therein and an outlet opening for theexhaust of pyrolyzed gas therefrom, an afterburner adapted to receiveexhaust gases from said outlet opening, a source of combustion air,means supplying the combustion air to the combustion chamber and to theafterbumer, said means supplying combustion air to the combustionchamber, comprising duct means having a plurality of vertically spacedopenings, and control means for the air flow through each of saidopenings whereby the flow of air therethrough may be limited to apredetermined opening to closely control the pyrolization of wastematerial in the combustion chamber.

6. An incinerator for the incineration of waste material as defined inclaim 5 wherein said control means is responsive to a condition effectedby the collection of residual matter at the bottom of the combustionchamber.

1. An incinerator for the incineration of organic matter in a charge ofwaste material that contains organic and inorganic values comprising incombination a combustion chamber including a loading opening for theadmission of waste material therein and an outlet opening for theexhaust of pyrolyzed gas therefrom, means for the collection of ash atthe bottom of the combustion chamber, a source of air for combustion,means supplying combustion air from said source to the combustionchamber including a plurality of vertically spaced passageways at thelower portion of the combustion chamber, and means controlling air flowthrough each of said passageways whereby the flow of air may becurtailed through the passageways that lie subjacent the level of ashesat the bottom of the combustion chamber to thereby terminate combustionof residual matter in the ash and the volatilization of inorganic matterthat produces a haze forming gas.
 2. An incinerator for the incinerationof waste material as defined in claim 1 wherein the vertically spacedinlet passageways are of equal size to permit a constant rate of airflow therethrough.
 3. An incinerator for the incineration of wastematerial as defined in claim 1 wherein the vertically spaced inletpassageways extend horizontally between ends of the incinerator.
 4. Anincinerator for the incineration of waste material as defined in claim 1wherein the vertically spaced inlet passageways are formed with a seriesof horizontally spaced openings that exhaust into the combustionchamber.
 5. An incinerator for the incineration of organic matter in acharge of waste material that contains organic and inorganic valuescomprising in combination a combustion chamber having a loading openingfor the admission of waste material therein and an outlet opening forthe exhaust of pyrolyzed gas therefrom, an afterburner adapted toreceive exhaust gases from said outlet opening, a source of combustionair, means supplying the combustion air to the combustion chamber and tothe afterburner, said means supplying combustion air to the combustionchamber, comprising duct means having a plurality of vertically spacedopenings, and control means for the air flow through each of saidopenings whereby the flow of air therethrough may be limited to apredetermined opening to closely control the pyrolization of wastematerial in the combustion chamber.
 6. An incinerator for theincineration of waste material as defined in claim 5 wherein saidcontrol means is responsive to a condition effected by the collection ofresidual matter at the bottom of the combustion chamber.